Tag Archives: Poetry

What do poets talk about when they think everyone is listening? The question is answered in the latest episode of the acclaimed Poets Underground show is up on YouTube, click below to hear guest host, Todd Cirillo and guest poet/publisher, Wolfgang Carstens talk inspiration, poetry, the value of cuss words, his latest book, Hell and High Water (available for purchase below), selling out to the highest bidder and other half-truths from New Orleans to Alberta, Canada. Enjoy.

The book is available NOW!! Click the link below or the Lulu link to your right! Us pirates at Six Ft. Swells Press are so thrilled to publish, Hell and High Water by Wolfgang Carstens, that we are hitting the rum hard in total celebration! To pre-atone for our drunken ways we are offering the book at a 25% DISCOUNT now until November 15th in honor of Wolfgang Carstens 25 years of matrimony, chronicled here in Hell and High Water.

The poems in Hell and High Water offer the gritty reality of a poet, husband, provider, father and shady romantic wrestling with life’s responsibilities and his own primal urges. From the familiar dinner table to disastrous family vacations and mail order sex toys, Wolfgang Carstens presents us with vulnerability, humor, rawness, regret and the rejoicing in twenty-five years of intimacy with another as no other poet can. Carstens has wickedly disguised Hell and High Water as a twisted yet tender guide for the rest of us in maintaining the wildness among minivans, mortgages and matrimony.

The water is rising and the flames grow hotter as October 19th nears. Here is an early review of the book and a poem to get you through the weekend. Order information to follow.

Wolfgang Carstens promises “hell and high water” in his new book from Six Ft. Swells Press, and that’s exactly what you get. These poems blaze short and hot like matches, but baby, you’ll feel the burn; they both praise love and raise the level of pithy skewering to new heights. In Hell and High Water, whether he’s getting lucky (“i don’t write love poems”), or ruminating (“len,” “contrary”), Carstens remains true to himself and his sometimes dark, sometimes hilarious, episodic visions of life.—Dianne Borsenik, publisher of NightBallet Press, author of Age of Aquarius (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2016)

Now on small screens everywhere, poet Todd Cirillo is featured on the internationally acclaimed Poets Underground show with host Wolfgang Carstens. This critically lauded episode features the two legendary poets and writers in conversation and performance. A must see for poetry fans and good time people alike. So open up a sixer, mix a tall drink and enjoy as Todd and Wolfgang bring the goods to the world. Click below to watch.

Only a true fan of Todd Cirillo’s poetry could write this review (keep them coming):

Reading Todd Cirillo’ s Burning The Evidence feels sweaty, like a hot summer afternoon in the French Quarter. Slutty, like a stranger who opens her heart and legs to you for reasons she doesn’t even know. And drunken, Spoken in the moments between sober confusion and drunken clarity. Sweaty,slutty,and drunken. All things I like, A lot.–Anonymous Verified Amazon Purchase

French Quarter Happy Hour starts by clicking this link to order the Sazerac of poetry:

On Wednesday March 29th at 8pm at BJ’s Lounge in the Bywater 4301 Burgundy St. for the Blood Jet Poetry Series, Todd will be celebrating the release of his new book of poems Burning the Evidence published by Epic Rites Press with a reading along with poet Clare Welsh. Come on down, there will be strong drinks, cheap books for sale (only $10), great jukebox, slanted pool table, corner bar beauty and fun.

The incomparable Midnight Lane Boutique features Todd Cirillo and publishes three new poems. Click the link below and you can also order Todd’s new book Burning the Evidence (Epic Rites Press 2017) at the end of the article.

Todd Cirillo is co-founder and editor of Six Ft. Swells Press. His poems have appeared in numerous national and international literary journals, magazines and cocktail napkins everywhere. His books include ROXY (R.L. Crow Publications, 2003), Everybody Knows the Dice are Loaded (Rattlesnake Press, 2006), This Troubled Heart(Lummox Press, 2010), Sucker’s Paradise (Six Ft. Swells Press, 2012), and Sexy Devils (Epic Rites Press, 2016), among others. Todd lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and can be found at afterhourspoetry.com or epicrites.org.

*

In Complete Agreement

She stood me up
on a Sunday.
On Monday
she sent me a text
saying she
ended up getting drunk
with an old boyfriend
but she was sorry
and it would never
happen again.

I looked at my phone
in complete agreement
with her
as I
hit
delete.

*

Nothing Wasted

I am using the last
of your shampoo.
I spent the .84 cents
left on the desk
where there once stood
a vase with yellow flowers.
I am playing
the Pink Floyd album
you forgot.
I gave the leftover
pack of cigarettes
to the first
homeless person
I saw.

Instead of throwing
it all away
I thought,
why waste it.

There has been enough
of that already.

*

Premonition

Everyone was dancing—
except you.
It was supposed
to be a good time.
You and I
and a thousand
other lovers
under the moon,
listening
to the Rebirth Brass Band
sing from the stage,
“I used to love her
but it’s all over now.”

I went and ordered
two more beers,
thinking
that might loosen
the evening.
You did not want another.
“Two for me then,”
I thought out loud,
and smiling
up at the white moon
felt the breeze
come off the river
and watched the girls’ dresses
rise as they twirled.

I continued to dance
and make friends
with those around us,
our space on the lawn
getting smaller and smaller.
You had no idea
what was coming,